The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-12-14
A noH.HoMoLoaousr ADMINISTRATION.


is in full or not.
0E"H0MOLOGOUs' ADMINISTRATION.
There is great deal of individualism in
the present administration. Everybody has
noticed the difference between well-organ-
lied. we'll trained company of theatrical per-
formers and one composed of amateurs. The
former work to a common end, play into one
another's hands and pull together; the latter
do precisely the reverse, each one grinding
his own organ and playing his own tune.
The present administration is an amateur
one. Its members do not seem to have
hearsed They do not seem to know the
play even their own parts. They go
about it in shovel and tongs fashion, all pull
ing in different directions and every fellow
for himself There ought to have been full
dress rehearsal before the Presidents message
and the department reports were issued, to
have enabled them to come to understand
ing, then perhaps we should not have had
the President and his secretaries and sub
ordinates taking such opposite views of
things. Now we have the Secretary of the
Treasury advising that the surplus be placed
in the national banks where it would be
available for business, and he adds, ''as this
is the best use to make of this money,
advise it." The President says in his mes
sage, ''the proposition to deposit money held
by the government in banks throughout the
country, for use by the people, is, it seems to
me, exceedingly Objectionable in principle
Now if they had rehearsed the play before
giving a public performance this could not
have occurred. The absurdity of such OPP
posite sentiments would have been discovered,
and one or the other would have been stricken
out. Again, Postmaster general Villas recon-
nnends the erection of new postoffice buildings
in very large number of towns evidently
intending to utilize the surplus in this way;
the Secretary of the Navy urges the building
of navy, and the Secretary of War recon-
mends the construction of coast defenses,
each one implying that his is the proper way
to utilize the surplus. The President, who
really has the leading part, pays attention
to the frivolous suggestions of his subs, but
recommends that the surplus be abolished,
root and branch, by reducing the revenue.
But the funniest break of all is that made by
Colonel Switzler, Chief of the Bureau of
Statistics. While the Cabinet officers
were practicing their several parts
and formulating recommendations regard
less of the Presidents message, Colonel
Switzler getting up a side-show
of his own the wool question. He ought
to have known that the President was load
ing up on wool, but evidently he did not. It
is equally evident the President did not
know Colonel Switzler was loading up. They
each loaded and fired at will, and, sad to say,
they fred into another. This never
could have happened if there had been a re-
hearsal. The President presents an elabor-
ate statement of the wool question in support
of his free-trade argument, and Colonel
Switzler deliberately knocks it to pieces
Colonel Switzler, it should be remarked is a
good Democrat from Missouri. While tie
President was evolving his message depreci-
ating the Importance of the wool industry,
Colonel Switzler was contemplating with
profound satisfaction his report on "Wool
and Manufactures of Wool" now completed
and ready for distribution. To show how
d vergent are their views, we quote from the
Presidents message and his subordinate's
report. "When the number of farmers en-
gagged in wool raising" says the President,
f.is compared with all the farmers in the
country, and the small proportion they bear
to our population is considered; when it is
made apparent that in the case of a large part
of those who own sheep, the benefit of the
present tariff on wool is illusory; and, above
all, when it must be conceded that the in
crease of the cost of living caused by such
tariff becomes burden on those with moder-
ate means, and the poor, the employed and
unemployed, the sick and well, and the
young and DID, and that it constitutes tax
which, with relentless grasp, is fastened
upon the clothing of every man, woman and
child in the land, reasons suggested why
the removal or reduction of this duty should
be included in a revision of our tariff laws"
So much for the President. Now for the
other side. 1.-THE wool industry of the Uni
ted States" says Col. Switzler, chief of
the bureau of statistics, ''has assumed
such proportions and importance, and
the calls for information in respect
to it are SO numerous, as to justify special
report, more or less exhaustive, presenting
the history of its development and disclosing
its present condition and future possibilities"
The report embraces 400 pages bristline
with statistics of the wool industry. They
show, among other things, that the total num-
Der of sheep in the United States increased